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Vaddukoddai Resolution
The Vaddukoddai Resolution was adopted on May 14, 1976, in Pannakam, near Vaddukoddai, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It called for the creation of an independent Tamil Eelam by the Tamil United Liberation Front under the leadership of S. J. V. Chelvanayakam. It was a major event in the modern history of Sri Lanka, as it was the first time the demand for a separate state for the Sri Lankan Tamils was made; Tamils had previously only demanded devolution or power sharing under a federal system. TULF contested the 1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election on its demand for Tamil Eelam and won an overwhelming mandate in the Tamil areas, becoming the main opposition party in Sri Lanka, the only time a minority party has done so. It gave impetus to Tamil nationalists, who claimed it was a democratic endorsement of a separate state. Background The adoption of the 1972 Sri Lankan Constitution made Sri Lanka a unitary state with Sinhala being the sole official language and Buddhism ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinhala Only Act
The Official Language Act (No. 33 of 1956), commonly referred to as the Sinhala Only Act, was an act passed in the Parliament of Ceylon in 1956. The act replaced English with Sinhala as the sole official language of Ceylon, with the exclusion of Tamil from the act. At the time, Sinhala (also known as Sinhalese) was the language of Ceylon's majority Sinhalese people, who accounted for around 70% of the country's population. Tamil was the first language of Ceylon's three largest minority ethnic groups, the Indian Tamils, Sri Lankan Tamils and Moors, who together accounted for around 29% of the country's population. The act was controversial as its supporters saw it as an attempt by a community that had just gained independence to distance themselves from their colonial masters, while its opponents viewed it as an attempt by the linguistic majority to oppress and assert dominance on minorities. The Act symbolizes the post-independent Sinhalese majority's determination to asser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sri Lankan Tamil History
Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Assamese, Meitei ( Manipuri), Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanese, Balinese, Sundanese, Sinhalese, Thai, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Assamese, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Malayalam, Kannada, Sanskrit, Pali, Khmer, and also among Philippine languages. It is usually transliterated as ''Sri'', ''Sree'', ''Shri'', ''Shiri'', ''Shree'', ''Si'', or ''Seri'' based on the local convention for transliteration. In Tamil it evolved to Tiru. The term is used in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia as a polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." in written and spoken language. "Shri" is also used as a title of veneration for deities or as honorific title for individuals. "Shri" is also an epithet for Hindu goddess Lakshmi, while a '' yantra'' or a mysti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Origins Of The Sri Lankan Civil War
The origins of the Sri Lankan civil war lie in the continuous political rancor between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Sri Lankan Tamils. The war has been described by social anthropologist Jonathan Spencer as an outcome of how modern ethnic identities have been made and re-made since the colonial period, with the political struggle between minority Tamils and the Sinhalese-dominant government accompanied by rhetorical wars over archeological sites and place name etymologies, and the political use of the national past. Colonial period The roots of the conflict have been traced back to Sri Lanka's colonial era. Some observers claim that British colonial rule used "divide and rule" strategy and its policies exacerbated ethnic tensions. Tamils were overrepresented in the civil service jobs due to the advantage of English language educational resources being allegedly disproportionately allocated to them. However, English language schools were established in the Tamil-maj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1976 In Sri Lanka
Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic relations are established between Bangladesh and Pakistan 5 years after the Bangladesh Liberation War. * January 27 ** The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state. ** The First Battle of Amgala (1976), First Battle of Amgala breaks out between Morocco and Algeria in the Spanish Sahara. February * February 4 ** The 1976 Winter Olympics begin in Innsbruck, Austria. ** The 7.5 1976 Guatemala earthquake, Guatemala earthquake affects Guatemala and Honduras with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''), leaving 23,000 dead and 76,000 injured. * February 9 – The Australian Defence Force is formed by unification of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government. The leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, cited the 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom as one of the factors that led him to militancy. In 1975, he assassinated the Mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah, in revenge for the 1974 Tamil conference incident. The LTTE was subsequently founded in 1976 as a reaction to the Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972 which prescribed Buddhism as the primary religion of the country, and Sinhala as its national language. The LTTE was involved in attacks on government targets, policemen and local politicians and moved on to armed clashes against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sixth Amendment To The Constitution Of Sri Lanka
Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was enacted on 8 August 1983 and made it a criminal offence to advocate secession and establishing a separate state within Sri Lanka .It also made it mandatory for Sri Lankan members of Parliament and holders of official posts not to support a separate state within Sri Lankan borders and take an oath on this. This was done as Tamil United Liberation Front had called for a separate state called Tamil Eelam in the Vaddukoddai Resolution and the Black July riots had taken place which led to the Sri Lankan Civil War. This led to members of the Tamil United Liberation Front in the Sri Lankan parliament refusing to take the oath and forfeiting their seats. Tamil separatists led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact
The Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact was an agreement signed between the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and the leader of the main Tamil political party in Sri Lanka S. J. V. Chelvanayakam on July 26, 1957. It advocated the creation of a series of regional councils in Sri Lanka as a means to giving a certain level of autonomy to the Tamil people of the country, and was intended to solve the communal disagreements that were occurring in the country at the time. The act was strongly opposed by certain sections of the Sinhalese (while a few Tamil politicians opposed it for not going far enough), and was eventually torn up by Prime Minister Bandaranaike in May 1958 due to the pressure of Buddhist monks. The abandonment of the pact led to tensions between the two communities, resulting in a series of outbreaks of ethnic violence in the country which eventually spiraled into the 26 year Sri Lankan Civil War. Prime Minister Bandaranaike's later attempts to pas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1958 Anti-Tamil Pogrom
The 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom and riots in Ceylon, also known as the 58 riots, refer to the first island-wide ethnic riots and pogrom to target the minority Tamils in the Dominion of Ceylon after it became an independent dominion from Britain in 1948. The riots lasted from 22 May until 29 May 1958 although sporadic disturbances happened even after the declaration of emergency on 27 May 1958. The estimates of the murdersChattopadhyaya, H. ''Ethnic Unrest in Modern Sri Lanka: An Account of Tamil-Sinhalese Race Relations'', p. 54 range, based on recovered bodies, from 158 to 1,500. Although most of the victims were Tamils, Sinhalese and their property were also affected by retaliatory attacks by Tamil mobs throughout the Batticaloa and Jaffna districts.Roberts, M. ''Exploring Confrontation: Sri Lanka: Politics, Culture and History '', p.331 As the first full-scale race riot in the country in over forty years, the events of 1958 shattered the trust the communities had in one another an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1956 Anti-Tamil Pogrom
The 1956 anti-Tamil pogrom, also known as the Gal Oya riots, was the first organised pogrom against Sri Lankan Tamils in the Dominion of Ceylon. It began with anti-Tamil rioting in Colombo, followed by anti-Sinhalese rioting in the Batticaloa District. The worst of the violence took place in the Gal Oya valley after the Batticaloa attacks, where local majority Sinhalese colonists and employees of the Gal Oya Development Board commandeered government vehicles, dynamite and weapons and massacred minority Tamils. It is estimated that over 150 people, mostly Tamils, had died during the violence. The police and army were eventually able to bring the situation under control. Background information Gal Oya settlement scheme Gal Oya settlement scheme was begun in 1949 to settle landless peasants in formerly jungle land. Gal Oya river in the Eastern province was dammed and a tank was created with of irrigated land. In 1956 the settlement had over 50 new villages where over 5,000 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
